Once the takeover is officially complete, Mark Walter will become the new owner of the Los Angeles Lakers. His money and generosity could soon usher in a golden age in Hollywood.
“I’m not going to try to save a few dollars. I want to have a great team and I’d rather spend a little too much,” Walter said when he took over the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012. This statement says a lot about Walter’s philosophy and should give the Lakers a little taste of what’s to come. After all, he immediately followed up his words with action.
In his very first year with the MLB team, the Dodgers traded for All-Stars Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett, taking on a whopping quarter of a million dollars in salaries. In 2023, he then signed superstar Shohei Ohtani to a historic $700 million contract. On top of that, his team pays the most luxury taxes of any team year after year, with last year’s bill coming in at $103 million. No problem for the multi-billionaire.
Mark Walter: What makes the new Lakers owner tick
Walter (65) is CEO and owner of the holding company TWG Global and the investment firm Guggenheim Partners, which manages assets of around $325 billion. With this money, he has already bought shares in Chelsea FC, the Los Angeles Sparks, the future Formula 1 team Cadillac, and the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), in addition to the Dodgers.
He is not a loud owner, but someone who pulls the strings behind the scenes. He hires the right people and makes sure they are successful. “I’m a baseball fan, but I’m not qualified to make decisions in baseball, and I don’t want to pretend that I am. I’m here to support and cheer on my people as best I can – as loudly as I can,“ he said when he took over the Dodgers.
Walter is a savvy businessman who knows how the business works and spares no expense to hire the best people. ”What most people overlook is how much the Dodgers invest beyond the players. They spend money on infrastructure at an elite level: on talent in the front office, analytics, and player development. Each of these areas is basically run by an executive at the general manager level, which allows them to retain top talent in all areas,” an NBA executive told The Athletic.
These qualities strike fear into rival teams and make him more than popular with his own team and fans: Just last year, Walter was voted the most popular owner in the entire MLB in a fan poll.
Walter on the Lakers: “Finally, a real company.”
But what does Walter’s record takeover mean for the Lakers in concrete terms? First of all, Lakers fans no longer have to worry about potential luxury taxes. Yes, the Buss family has paid luxury taxes regularly in the past, but the team has never ventured into the realm of $100+ million in luxury taxes, as has been the norm for the Warriors, Suns, Celtics, and Clippers for years. That will certainly change from now on. There will be no more “too expensive” contracts in the City of Angels in the future; overpaying instead of giving up is likely to be the new motto.
Significantly more money will certainly flow into management, the coaching team, analytics, etc., as Walter has already done with the Dodgers. “This is a good move. The Lakers can finally be run like a real business,” a league insider commented on the deal to ESPN.
And the Lakers stars themselves also seem to be impressed by the latest developments. According to ESPN, LeBron James and Luka Doncic are “excited” about the new opportunities for the franchise, with the Slovenian also commenting publicly on X. Lakers legend Magic Johnson is also looking forward to the new owner. “I am so happy and excited for all Lakers fans around the world,” he wrote on X. “My sister Jeanie Buss has done an amazing job of putting this incredible deal together.”
For now, however, everything will continue as usual in L.A. According to ESPN, current owner Jeanie Buss will remain in her role as “governor” for several more years and thus remain primarily responsible for the team. Behind the scenes, however, Walter will certainly be working piece by piece to ensure that the Lakers will soon be back on TV in mid-June for the most important games of the season.